If You're Thinking of Living In/Yorktown; A Town That Values a Sense of Country

WHEN Deborah Hayes was growing up in Yorktown more than 40 years ago, her family timed their Sunday morning walks to church around the cow crossings, in order not to be late for services.

Today, Mrs. Hayes -- a financial analyst who raised a son and daughter in Yorktown and still lives there with her husband, John -- no longer worries about the cows. Over the years the farms in the 40-square-mile town have disappeared, and with sadness, Mrs. Hayes said, she has watched new houses rise in their place. ''These days, it's the speeding cars I look out for,'' she said.

Only a handful of agricultural enterprises remain, among them the 248-acre Hilltop Hanover, Westchester's last surviving dairy farm, and Wilkens Fruit Farm, where the public can harvest raspberries, apples, pumpkins and Christmas trees on 180 acres.

But having lost agriculture in the past 50 years and accrued modern suburban trappings like shopping centers and busy highways, Yorktown currently makes a major effort to set aside open space for recreation, said the town's supervisor, Linda G. Cooper.

''It's a great concern of mine to preserve that sense of country that drew so many people to live and work here and to love Yorktown,'' the supervisor said.

Thirty-five miles north of New York City, Yorktown is home to more than 1,400 acres of town and state parks; five miles of the 22-mile North County Trailway bike and pedestrian path, which runs north and south in the county; the 730-acre Teatown Lake Reservation, one of the county's largest nature preserves; two 18-hole public golf courses; and numerous public ball fields and tennis courts.

Indeed, many of the town's 36,049 residents are involved in sports -- either playing on local teams or coaching them. The 46-year-old Mrs. Cooper herself plays in an ice hockey league, though there are no rinks in Yorktown.

Whatever the sport, there is plenty to choose from in Yorktown and many like-minded souls to play with. Among the town's recreation areas are Downing Park, with three tennis courts and ball field; Shrub Oak Park, which features a swimming pool, ball fields and tennis courts; Junior Lake Park, which has swimming in the summer and outdoor ice skating in winter; Sparkle Lake with its beach and basketball courts and skating during the winter; and Willow Park, which features a ball field most of the year and outdoor skating when weather permits.

''Yorktown is a place where instead of country clubs, there's publicly funded recreation,'' Mrs. Cooper said.

One of the Westchester County's most northern townships -- its southern border is just below the Croton Reservoir and its northern border is the Putnam County line -- Yorktown attracts many young families in search of a child-centered community. Many are also first-time home buyers looking for a house with more than a postage-stamp-sized lot in one of the most expensive counties in the nation, said Ed Ferguson, manager of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Yorktown.

''Fifty years ago, a typical three-bedroom ranch or split-level house here on a half-acre sold for $15,000,'' Mr. Ferguson said. ''Today, that same house is going for $250,000 or $300,000. The same size three-bedroom in White Plains sells for $400,000 or $450,000. In Palo Alto, of course, it's going for a million dollars.''

THE median price of a single-family house in Yorktown is $315,000 -- considerably less than the median price countywide, which is $412,500, said Thomas Fanelli, vice president of Prudential Fanelli Real Estate in Yorktown.

Split-levels and ranches built in the 1950's and 1960's make up most of the housing stock. But former summer cottages, like those clustered around Mohegan Lake, which have been winterized and are now occupied year-round, generally sell for $175,000 to $225,000.

Two years ago, Gina and Vincent Gavigan purchased their three-bedroom home, a raised ranch built in 1976, for $250,000.

''It was a move based mostly on what would work best for our two kids,'' said Mrs. Gavigan, a purchasing agent for Rosco Laboratories in Stamford, Conn. ''But it was also a house we could afford, with a third of an acre and a nice level backyard and driveway where the children could play.''

For families like the Gavigans, the strong local public school districts, with their curriculums geared for college-bound students, are yet another draw for families not interested in -- or able to afford -- private schools.

Four public school districts serve Yorktown, although two -- Ossining and Croton-Harmon -- serve only small, sparsely populated areas south of Croton Reservoir. The Yorktown district, which is entirely within the town, has four elementary schools, a middle school and Yorktown High School. The Lakeland School District, the largest noncity district in the county, also serves parts of Cortlandt and Somers in Westchester and Philipstown, Carmel and Putnam Valley in Putnam County.

Two of the district's three high schools are in Yorktown: Lakeland High School and Lakeland Alternative High School. Three of the five elementary schools in the Lakeland school district and a middle school are also within the town's borders.

Both major districts reported average College Board scores above the state average, which is 494 for the verbal test and 506 for math. At Yorktown High School last year, S.A.T. averages were 543 in verbal and 567 in math; at Lakeland, S.A.T. averages were 507 in verbal and 509 in math.

At Yorktown High, which had three National Merit finalists last year, 89 percent of graduating students went on to college -- 71 percent to four-year institutions and 18 percent to two-year colleges.

At Lakeland, which had two merit National Merit finalists last year, 92 percent of last year's graduating class went on to college -- 67 percent to four-year schools and 25 percent to two-year colleges.

In all, there are five hamlets in the town with their own post offices and ZIP codes: Yorktown Heights, Crompond, Shrub Oak, Jefferson Valley and Mohegan Lake. But all are governed and taxed by the town.

Until recently, the town's taxes -- about $7,500 on a $315,000 home -- were considered high for northern Westchester, said Michael S. Blank, a broker for the Yorktown firm that bears his name. He observed that in recent years the disparity between Yorktown's property taxes and those of neighboring areas has all but disappeared. And considering the amenities offered by the community, the taxes are well worth it, said Mr. Blank, who fondly remembers whiling away his summer days as a child at Yorktown's lakes.

If there is a downside to living in Yorktown, it could be the lengthy commute to New York City, which is at least an hour by car outside of rush hour. Commuters can board either a Metro-North Hudson Line train at Croton-Harmon or a Harlem Line train at Mount Kisco, both about 10 to 15 minutes away, for a trip to Manhattan taking about an hour.

By contrast, for commuters to Yorktown's largest employer, I.B.M., it is just a short car or bike ride to the Thomas Watson Research Lab south of the reservoir. For many families, though, especially those with two adults commuting in two different directions -- like Gina Gavigan, who drives to Stamford and her husband, Vincent, who drives to Yonkers -- Yorktown is centrally located.

WITH property values -- and commercial rents -- in Yorktown lower than those in central and southern Westchester, and good roads like the Taconic Parkway serving the community, it is no wonder that upscale stores have recently followed young families north in recent years.

For instance, in December 1999, after a quarter of a century in Hartsdale, Turco's, a specialty food market, opened a second store in Yorktown.

''What Hartsdale was 25 years ago, Yorktown is today,'' Preston Turco said. ''In Hartsdale the average age of our customer is now 55, and the family size is 2.2 people. In Yorktown, the average age is 35, and the household size is 5.''

''So while they're buying only three oranges in Hartsdale, our customers in Yorktown are buying oranges by the bag,'' he explained. ''We watched the demographics of Westchester and saw so many young people moving north that we decided to follow them. It seems to be where a lot of the action is these days.''

Janet Brand, a broker with Albert P. Schatz Real Estate in nearby Ossining, said that stores like Turco's and shopping centers like the Jefferson Valley Mall, which was built in 1986, have become strong selling points for the town.